Legionaries
by Lady Jekyll
Summary: The events of Watchman are over. Third generation Watchman fic. Post GN. Ch. 3: "Photographs" is now up!
1. New Beginnings

Legionaries

Ch. 1: New Beginnings

* * *

Summary: The events of Watchman are over. Friends have died or simply disappeared. Dan and Laurie start a family. Will their sons be anything like them? Third generation _Watchman_ fic. Post GN.

* * *

A/n: I don't know why, but I just HAD to write this! While Dan and Laurie's first names have not changed here, I will keep the last name they took in the end of the book: Hollis. Advice and criticism goes to DogWithHeadSplitOpen on the WMC fourms.

* * *

November 2, 1987

"Daniel, honey, would you calm _down_?" said Sally Jupiter. She understood why her son-in-law had reason to be nervous. What she would have given to have Eddie by her side when Laurie had been born! "If you're so worried, go see her!"

Dan shook his head, pacing back and forth in the maternity ward waiting room. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them from shaking.

"No, I can't bear to see her in pain," he said. Dan wished some of his old friends were still around. Jon "Dr. Manhattan" Osterman had disappeared, literally, from the face of the Earth. Walter "Rorschach" Kovacs was dead, the only remains found being his fedora and mask, neither of which Dan had had the heart to bury in the grave he'd purchased for his fallen friend.

"Mr. Hollis?" inquired a nurse. Dan jumped and turned to face the woman. "Your wife is fine. She delivered two healthy boys. Congratulations."

"Twins…" gasped Dan, dazed by his own happiness. "Can I see them?"

The nurse nodded, smiling. Dan and Sally walked to Laurie's room. Laurie looked tired but happy. She was glowing with pride, holding her newborn sons in each arm.

"The doctors said that they're fraternal twins," she said as Dan gave her a kiss on the forehead. Sally smiled as Laurie put one of the boys in her arms.

"Do you have names picked out?" she asked, looking down at her brown-haired grandson. "Aw, hello little one."

"He's the eldest," said Laurie, brushing a lock of sweat-soaked hair from her face, "we decided to name him Eddie Morgan."

Sally felt tears sting her eyes as she looked at her grandson, then to her daughter and back again.

"Your father would be proud, Laurie," she said. "And what about his brother?" she asked, nodding her head at the baby in Dan's arms.

"I let Dan decide that one. He hasn't told me," Laurie replied.

Dan looked at baby in his arms. The child, unlike his brother, had inherited Sally's red hair. It wasn't much now, just an light 'owl tuft' as Laurie had teasing dubbed Dan's own hair style. He smiled and spoke.

"Walter," he said. "Walter Joseph."

"Dan!" said Laurie, looking surprised. "I will _not_ name my baby after Rorschach!"

"And I don't mean Rorschach, honey," Dan replied. "I mean Walter, the man _behind_ the mask. Rorschach's name is _still_ spoken in whispers, even though he's been dead for two years. It's _Walter_ who's been forgotten."

"That shouldn't happen to anyone," said Sally as Dan walked over to her. "And he looks like a Walter."

Laurie sighed as Dan placed little Walter Joseph back into her arms to hand Eddie to Sally. She watched her mother coo at the baby.

"Hello, Eddie. You gonna grow up to be a young buck like your grandpa was?"

"Mother…" Laurie muttered. She looked down at the baby in her arms, kissing him lightly on the head. "Welcome to the world, Walter," she said. "I'm your Mama."


	2. Butterflies and Toy Soldiers

Legionaries

Ch. 2: Butterflies and Toy Soldiers

* * *

A/n: This chapter takes place two years after chapter one.

* * *

"Papa! Papa!" said 2 year old Walter "Wally" Hollis. He held up a drawing for Dan to see. "Lookit! Lookit!" Dan put down the newspaper he had been reading and turned to his son.

"Oh, very nice, Wally," he said with a smile. "Is that a—um…?" he chuckled to himself as he tried to see what the blue and purple crayon scribbles could possibly represent.

"Pwetty butterfly," said Wally as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dan laughed as he pulled his redheaded son onto his lap.

"Ah, yes, I see it! And it _is_ a pretty butterfly," he said. "You wanna put it on the fridge with the rest of your drawings?" Dan wasn't sure if there would be any room left of the refrigerator doors. Wally loved to draw, and the one common factor in his scribbles was that he always drew two of everything. Dan had kept one framed at his desk. It was supposed to be two owls in a tree under a rainbow. At least that's what Laurie had labeled the picture when she'd framed it as a Father's Day present.

"Nah," said Wally, looking hard at the picture. "Anudder one!" he said, quickly climbing off his father's lap to toddle back to his pad of paper and crayon box. He ran back to Dan after a moment, clutching another drawing. "Doggies!" he said happily.

"Very nice," said Dan. "What should we do with them?"

Wally looked at the drawings thoughtfully. "Hurm…" Dan nearly burst out laughing. Whenever in deep thought or nervous, Wally always made his Uncle Walter's trademark grunt. He put the 'Pretty Butterfly' drawing on the table. "Unkie Waller," he said. Next, he turned his attention to the 'Doggies' picture, "Gwanpa Eddie."

Dan nodded. It had been a while since the family had paid their respects. The twins liked to leave gifts at the graves of the men their parents had named them after. They were too young to understand who they were and what they had done. Why they were heroes. "I think that's a good idea. Go get your coat and shoes for me; I'll go tell your mom."

"Tell me what?" inquired Laurie. She looked somewhat annoyed, holding little Eddie by the arm. Eddie had a mischievous smile on his face to which Dan frowned at.

"Eddie, what happened?" he asked. The boy was silent and Dan glared at him. "Edward Morgan…"

"Threw rock," Eddie grumbled. "Sorry." His smart-aleck tone made it clear he was anything but apologetic.

"He broke the study window," said Laurie tersely. "I don't think anything's been damaged from what I saw."

Dan exhaled sharply through his nose as he looked back at Eddie.

"You and I will be having a chat when we get home, mister," he said. "Get your shoes and jackets, you two," he went on, addressing the twins (Wally had frozen at seeing his mother's annoyed look).

"What's going on?" asked Laurie, wrapping her arms around Dan's waist. Dan smiled as he kissed his wife on the forehead.

"Wally and I thought it might be nice to pay your dad and Rorschach a visit."

"Doesn't it seem rather morbid?" inquired Laurie. "Making a family outing of the cemetery? We go once or twice a month. It's creepy."

"They'll understand the meaning behind these visits in time. Until then, consider it a history lesson," said Dan with a smile.

"History lesson?" repeated Laurie in disgust. "It's a cemetery!"

"I wouldn't want to die and be buried in the ground only to be ignored," Dan replied as he put on his coat. "Would you?"

* * *

"Huh—Hi, Unkie Waller," said Wally nervously. Dan watched the boy toddle up to his namesake's grave, placing a stone on top of the 'Pretty Butterfly' drawing to keep the wind from claiming it. "For you." Dan smiled as Wally toddled back to him, hugging his knees. He looked at Rorschach's grave, reading over the tombstone he had ordered the morning after Walter Kovacs had died.

**Walter Joseph Kovacs**

**1940-1985**

**Antihero**

**Vigilante**

**Friend**

Dan sighed, recalling a night when Rorschach had refused any painkillers as he dug into his own leg with a pocketknife in order to extract a bullet.

"_Always hope to go down fighting…"_ Rorschach gasped, the lower part of his face that was not covered by the mask shining with sweat. _"Two shots to skull or knife to heart. Prefer it that way."_

Instead, he died alone, broken and beaten…

"Papa," said Wally, tugging on Dan's sleeve and jerking him back into reality. "Mama's callin',"

"Wally!" shouted Laurie a few yards away. "Come say hello to your Grandpa Eddie and let's get outta here before the rain starts!" Her voice was drowned out by loud clap of thunder. Dan looked over his shoulder as he followed Wally down the trail of grave markers. He always liked the rain. All the bad memories just washed away.

"'Bout time, I was getting worried," said Laurie. Eddie was sitting beside Edward Blake's tombstone, having created a small battalion of toy soldiers over and around his grandfather's grave. The boy was making _'ratta-tat-tat'_ noises to simulate the sounds of gunfire that the Comedian had reveled in when he was alive.

"Hullo, Gwanpa," said Wally with a sleepy smile as he put the 'Doggies' drawing underneath one of his brother's soldiers. "Here go."

Laurie scooped up her redheaded son into her arms while Dan helped Eddie pick up the soldiers, save one of that was brandishing an American flag.

"That fer Granpa," said Eddie, rubbing his eyes. Dan nodded, picking the boy up as he followed Laurie back to the car.


	3. Photographs

Legionaries

Ch. 3: Photographs

* * *

A/n: Fast forward three years after chapter 2.

* * *

_Please don't let Papa come in here…_ 5 year old Wally thought as he tiptoed into his father's study. It was 9:30, he should be in bed now. A sugar cube jones had hit with the force of a truck. Just get one out of Uncle Walter's mask and sneak out without Papa being any the wiser. Piece of cake. It scared him though. Eddie had once told him that Uncle Walter's ghost would come around the study at night when no one was around. Said he'd chop off your hand with a meat cleaver if you tried to take his mask. Wally didn't believe it. Eddie was just trying to scare him…right?

Wally pushed open the study door, looking at the memorabilia of days gone by. Pictures out of newspapers and magazines framed on the walls telling stories that a five year old boy wouldn't understand. Wally looked around quickly, catching glimpses of face and names he knew by sight, but knew very little else. His parents dressed as Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II respectively. Grandpa Eddie, smiling with a cigar between his teeth and a shotgun in his hands. Nana Sally when she was younger. Even a rare mug shot of Uncle Walter without his mask. He looked grumpy. Wally jumped at the sensation of a hand on his shoulder. He dropped the mask, sugar cubes spilling across the floor.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Walter! Don't chop off my hand!" Wally yelped.

"Wally—? Hand—?" muttered Dan's voice. He sounded half awake.

"Papa!" Wally cried, throwing his arms around his father's knees, sobbing. "Papa—I'm— suh—sorry!"

"Hang on, slow down," said Dan, getting down on one knee to brush away a tear that had clung to the rim of his son's glasses. "What happened?"

"I just wuh—wanted a couple sugar squares from Uncle Walter's mask," Wally said. Dan picked up the fallen piece of cloth. He was smiling, but his eyes looked sad. "Eddie said Uncle Walter's ghost will chop off my hand if I try to take his mask at night and I didn't believe him and then you _scared_ me…"

"You keep them in there?" he asked in a quiet voice. Wally nodded, sniffling.

"I—I'm sorry, Papa, I won't do it anymore…"

"No, no, it's okay. C'mere," Dan said, sitting down the big brown swivel chair Wally and Eddie liked to spin around in. Wally climbed into his father's lap and Dan pulled out a large binder. It, like the walls of the room around them, was filled to bursting with photographs and newspaper articles. Dan pulled out a photograph. It was of the ill-fated Crimebusters meeting. "You know who all these people are?"

Wally nodded.

"Granpa Eddie," he said, pointing to Blake. "Uncle Jon, Mama, Papa, Uncle Walter," he went on, pointing to each person in the photo as he named them. He paused for a moment when he came to Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt. "Hurm…Uncle Ozy…" Dan was pleased to see the boy sneer. "Mama said he's mean."

_That's an understatement,_ thought Dan coldly. _It's thanks to Veidt that the boys never met their grandfather and 'uncle.'_ He sighed and then pulled out a photo that had a pair of stories. One was painful and the other funny.

"You know who that is?" Dan asked, allowing Wally to look at the picture. It was of a ten year old boy in a moth-eaten suit that was two sizes too big. He was clutching a suitcase and something wrapped in butcher-paper and twine. His smile was weak, but relieved. Behind him was a partially obscured sign that read **CHARLTON HOME FOR PROBLEM CHILDREN**.

"Nuh uh," Wally said. Dan smiled again.

"That little boy," he said, "is your Uncle Walter. He was five years older than you when that picture was taken."

"Did you guys fight bad guys then?" asked Wally in awe.

"Ha ha! No. I didn't, but your Uncle Walter would say he did," said Dan with a laugh. When Wally was older, Dan would have to tell him how he had managed to get that picture to add to his collection. About a month after the twins had been born, Dan and Laurie had gone to the old orphanage to collect any photos or belongings Walter had left behind. The old woman who worked there had asked if they were Kovacs' family. Dan had said that he was Walter's brother and had taken in his infant son, as that had been his dying wish. The old bat looked at the picture of Walter as a kid and then at the month old Wally.

"_My God!"_ the woman exclaimed. _"I never thought he had it in him!"_


End file.
